The thoughts, semi-thoughts, splenetic rantings and vague half ideas, of a leftie-lib marooned in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Thursday, 14 February 2008

Spielberg quits Olympic post

Steven Spielberg has walked out of his post as 'artistic advisor' for the Beijing Olympics, because the government of the PRC supplies arms and oil to the government forces in Darfur (1). It is a principled thing to do, but he's doing it far too late. He should never have been involved in the Beijing Olympics in the first place.

That Durfur has been a tipping point is surprising - the Beijing regime has committed, and commits, for worse atrocities in its own territory. Any action that draws attention to the wickedness of the bastards of Beijing is good, but at the same time I can't get my head around Spielberg's myopia. Didn't he know that the Chinese government is one of the most hateful and despicable on the planet? If yes, why did he ever take up a post with them. If not, where on Earth has he been all this time?

The suggestion that working with the Beijing regime will somehow make things better, by promoting 'international contacts through which awareness of human rights in China can be increased' is outlandishly niave, particularly since it comes from a spokesperson of a human rights organisation (2). Anyone unaware of the nature of the regime in Beijing is either stupid or wilfully ignorant and neither condition will be resolved by holding the Olympic games there. I don't think Spielberg is either of these things. Which leaves us with a third option, complicity in evil. He's not alone in that, of course. We all are, to a greater or lesser extent.

Of course, our glorious leaders, having allowed our industrial base to relocate to the PRC, where practices such as slavery, indentured service and child labour are still permitted by a government that hates free speech and any criticism of its evil policies, don't really give a damn (3). They are more interested in maintaining their own hold on power, and the politician who tries to stem the flow of cheap goods is going to find himself very unpopular with his or her electorate, and (consequent to this) maintaining good relations with Beijing, who have control on that flow.